Leesa Klepper, a former Counsel to Senator Leahy, explains why
Republicans, not Democrats, are the party of obstructionism and court packing:
Although Republicans talk of obstruction, the fact is that President Bush had more of his judges confirmed in his first term than either President Reagan, the first President Bush, or President Clinton had confirmed in their first four years. President Bush had 204 of his appointees to the federal bench confirmed, out of a total of 877 judicial seats. President Bush filled the seats he inherited as a result of Republican obstruction of Clinton nominees - plus newly created seats -- with his own appointees, many of whom were selected for ideological reasons rather than through the customary and well-established bipartisan judicial selection commissions.
Of course none of this should be a surprise to any of us, but Klepper highlights just how successful the GOP's policy of obstruct, stack and pack has been:
The fact is that our federal courts are, both quantitatively and ideologically, beyond the tipping point. Already, more than three-quarters of the federal appellate courts in our country are dominated by Republican appointees. This is a dramatic difference from 2000, when Democratic and Republican appointees were represented in almost equal number on the circuit courts. The difference will become even starker over the next four years as this President's nominations agenda continues on its divisive path.
. . .
The result is that, with 32 of President Bush's circuit court nominees confirmed by the Senate, ten out of the 13 appellate circuits in this country currently have more Republican appointees than Democratic appointees. If all of the President's currently pending circuit court nominees are confirmed, 11 of the 13 circuits will tilt right. Had all of President Clinton's nominees been confirmed, the circuit courts would have been evenly split.
Unsurprisingly, the Republicans are being a bunch of hypocrites:
Moreover, of the ten circuit courts that currently have more Republican appointees today, six of them are significantly out of balance, such that Republicans enjoy at least a two-to-one advantage over the Democratic appointees. On no appellate court today do Democratic appointees have that advantage, not even on the Ninth Circuit, which is regularly referred to by some Republicans as "out of the mainstream." When Democratic appointees enjoyed just a 60% majority on the Ninth Circuit, some Republican senators argued that no more Democrats should be confirmed to that court. Were that principle to apply today, the Senate should not confirm any more Republican nominees to the ten circuits already dominated by Republican appointees. Of course, Republicans are not advocating this position today, but the public should be.